Named in honor of Marquis de Lafayette, of Revolutionary fame - Wis. Hist. Colls., i, p. 113.

Description from John W. Hunt's 1853 Wisconsin Gazetteer: "LAFAYETTE, County, is bounded on the north by Iowa, on the east by Green, on the south by the State line, and west by Grant, and is 21 miles north and south, by 30 miles east and west. ¿ it was organized February 4, 1847. The county seat has been a vexed question since the organization, but it has finally become established at the village of Shullsburg, a few miles southwest of the geographical centre. This county is more celebrated for its mining operations than for its agricultural products, simply, however, because the former has been prosecuted to the neglect of the latter. ¿  The Peckatonnica and Fevre rivers are the principal streams. The population in 1847 was 9,335; 1850, 11,556. Dwellings, 2,079; farms, 399; manufactories, 21."

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[Source: Kellogg, Louise Phelps. "Derivation of County Names" in Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin for 1909, pages 219-231.]